Merritt Island Clerk of Court's Office closed due to budget cuts

80 workers furloughed

People looking for services from a court clerk's office on Merritt Island are going away frustrated. Budget cuts have forced the closure of the branch office, the temporary layoff of workers, and many people say they are angry. Dan Billow (@DanBillowWESH) has the story.

People looking for services from a court clerk's office on Merritt Island are going away frustrated. State budget cuts have forced the closure of the branch office, caused the temporary layoff of several workers and made a lot of people upset.

People coming to the Clerk of Courts Branch Office on Merritt Island Monday found the door locked and a sign saying it will stay that way until the end of September.

"I think that this is absolutely absurd. How does an office like this close?" said local resident Leane Ziff.

"It's a major inconvenience for me. Now I have to go to Viera, which is like two or three towns over," added resident Victoria Kennedy.

Three other clerk's offices in Brevard County remain open, but understaffed. Brevard County Clerk of Court Scott Ellis is furloughing 80 workers, and requiring others to take one unpaid day off every two weeks. The furloughed workers receive unemployment compensation.

"A lot of work will back up. If you were to file a small claims case, or a divorce got underway, civil lawsuit, that case is not going to proceed as quickly in the next 10 weeks as it would have prior," Ellis said.

Some clerk's office business is an emergency, like women getting injunctions against abusive partners. Ellis said the emergency functions should not be delayed, nor should any criminal proceedings. It's civil matters that will be backlogged - everything from passports to marriage licenses.

The closures are because of state-level budget cuts that took a last-minute $700,000 bite from the clerk's office budget.

Volusia and Lake counties said they're in a hiring freeze right now as a result of the cuts.

Orange County said it is only hiring for "critical positions," positions required to run normal operations. It has also offered voluntarily early retirement programs to employees eligible to alleviate costs for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.